Debating Quotes

“If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Look, Aerin, preparation is only half the challenge of winning a debate.”
“And the other half?”
He had her now. “You have to choose the right side.”
“Your side, you mean.” She bristled.
“No, the losing side.”
“What?”
“Always choose the weaker side.”
“Why would I do that?” Doubt edged her voice, but now she was sitting erect, her feet flat on the floor.
“Because then you have further to go to prove your case.” He eased the feet of his chair down. “In a debate, there are two sides. If both make a good argument, then the less popular side wins because that side had further to go to prove its point. Simple logistics.”
“If you don’t care which side wins.” She frowned.
“It’s a debate. It doesn’t matter which side wins.”
“You mean it doesn’t matter to you.” The tone in her voice unsettled him. Or maybe it was the fact that that her criticism disturbed him at all.
“It’s a class,” he said. “The point is to flesh out the different sides of an argument.”
“And you don’t care if the truth gets lost in the shuffle. Don’t you believe in anything?!”
― Anne Osterlund, Academy 7

“Psychobabble attempts to redefine the entire English language just to make a correct statement incorrect. Psychology is the study of why someone would try to do this.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“I never discuss anything else except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“After a lifetime of engaging in long, passionate discussions I have come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time trying to convince anyone of anything.”
― Michael Foley, Embracing the Ordinary: Lessons From the Champions of Everyday Life

“I strongly object to wrong arguments on the right side. I think I object to them more than to the wrong arguments on the wrong side.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Volume 32: The Illustrated London News, 1920-1922

“With wisdom comes the rare ability to tell whether or not trying to change someone’s mind would be a waste of time.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Being on the side of the majority is often a sign that you are wrong, or the most unlikely to be right.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“A truth whispered is not less truthful. And an untruth shouted is not less untruthful.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Sometimes silence is a sign, not of not knowing what to say, but of knowing when to say what you know.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“If someone can’t see from your perspective, don’t bend their neck.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Song of a Nature Lover

“Our agreement or disagreement is at times based on a misunderstanding.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Most arguments are caused by the unwillingness to respect other people’s right to be wrong.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Almost no one gets into an argument hoping to be proven wrong if they are wrong.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“It is often in our best interest not to understand, to misunderstand, or to pretend not to understand.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Like pretty much every debate, an argument is an explosion caused by the collision of egos.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Thinking that someone is wrong is a very common way of being wrong.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“I have heard that in some debating clubs there is a rule that the members may discuss anything except religion and politics. I cannot imagine what they do discuss; but it is quite evident that they have ruled out the only two subjects which are either important or amusing. The thing is a part of a certain modern tendency to avoid things because they lead to warmth; whereas, obvious]y, we ought, even in a social sense, to seek those things specially. The warmth of the discussion is as much a part of hospitality as the warmth of the fire.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“There is no correlation between the degree to which you are confident that you are right and the chances of you not being wrong.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“We often mistake assuming or hoping for knowing.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“What's wrong?'

His wings were nowhere to be seen, not even the shadow of them. 'I'm debating asking you to stay tomorrow.'

I crossed my arms. 'I thought I was going.' Don't lock me up in this house, don't shove me aside-

He ran a hand through his hair. 'What I ahve to be tomorrow, who I have to become, is not... it's not something I want you to see. How I will treat you, treat others...'

'The mask of the High Lord,' I said quietly.

'Yes.' He took a seat on the bottom step of the stairs.

I remained in the centre of the foyer as I asked carefully. 'Why don't you want me to see that?'

'Because you've only started to look at me like I'm not a monster, and I can't stomach the idea of anything you see tomorrow, being beneath the mountain, putting you back into that place where I found you.'

Beneath the mountain- underground. Yes, I'd forgotten that. Forgotten I'd see the court Amarantha had modelled her own after, that I'd be trapped beneath the earth...

But with Cassian and Azriel, and Mor. With... him.

I waited for the panic, the cold sweat. Neither came. 'Let me help. In whatever way I can.'

Blackness shaded the starlight in those eyes. 'The role you will have to play is not a pleasant one.'

'I trust you,' I sat beside him on the stairs, close enough that the heat of his body warmed the chill night air clinging to my overcoat.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“dialectics as a symptom of decadence”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Why I Am So Wise

“Are there so many words in the English language that we must somehow exhaust every single one of them in some blithering defense of some cherished opinion? Or, would it be far, far more prudent to simply shut up and live out that opinion in ways that the English language has no words describe?”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“You cannot really convince a man who has always been blind that he does not see.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Debating is an ability of making a point without abusing an opponent.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Unfortunately, fools think that shouting makes their arguments convincing, or more convincing.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Sometimes responding, or how we respond, proves what we are responding to disprove.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“I see all the more reason for debate by the man who does actually 'believe his own lies' - for that debate is at least One versus One. But if even he doesn't believe them then it's really just a waste of time, or rather Won versus None.”
― Criss Jami

“One of the easiest ways to do this is to be mindful of how we use words like ‘you’ and ‘your’. During a conversation with a meat eater called Cam, he declared that he ‘definitely loves animals’. I could have said, ‘Proclaiming that you love animals while still eating meat means you’re a hypocrite,’ but I instead said, ‘Can you love them if you pay for them to be killed needlessly?’ In response he smiled knowingly and said, ‘See, that’s a good question.”
― Ed Winters, How to Argue With a Meat Eater